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STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) ― In this farming community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.
Several dozen people ― including a pilot, county constable and business owners ― insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.
"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times,'' said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. "It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts.''
While federal officials insist there's a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.
Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.
"You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal,'' Sorrells said. "It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I'm not crazy.''
Sorrells said he has seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle's telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most people reported the sighting.
Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear orange from the setting sun.
"I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner,'' Lewis said. "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you.''
Officials at the region's two Air Force bases ― Dyess in Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls ― also said none of their aircraft were in the area last week. The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs.
One man has offered a reward for a photograph or videotape of the mysterious object.
About 200 UFO sightings are reported each month, mostly in California, Colorado and Texas, according to the Mutual UFO Network, which plans to go to the 17,000-resident town of Stephenville to investigate.
Fourteen percent of Americans polled last year by The Associated Press and Ipsos say they have seen a UFO.
Erath County Constable Lee Roy Gaitan said that he first saw red glowing lights and then white flashing lights moving fast, but that even with binoculars could not see the object to which the lights were attached.
"I didn't see a flying saucer and I don't know what it was, but it wasn't an airplane, and I've never seen anything like it,'' Gaitan said. "I think it must be some kind of military craft ― at least I hope it was.''
斯蒂芬维尔，德州(美联社)--在乡村，夜幕降临时通常会出现明朗，繁星点点的天空，人们聚在那里叽叽喳喳的讨论报道中的UFO事件。数十人--包括飞行员，县警官和商人--坚称他们看到一个大型，没有声音，发射亮光的飞行物迅速低飞。一些人说是看到了战斗机在追它。
Steve Allen是一名货运公司老板兼飞行员，他声称他于上周看到的这个飞行物长1米，宽0.5米。他说：“人们好奇世界上有什么，因为这个是圣经地带(基督教新教会控制的地区)，每个人都害怕是世界末日。那是肯定的，几乎没有来自这些部分的东西。”
虽然联邦政府坚称有合乎逻辑的解释，但是当地人相信它比飞机体积更大，噪音更少，速度更快，飞得更低。他们还说该物体的光线变换形状，不像一架飞机。数个村庄的人声称在几周内看到相似物体的描述。
机械师Ricky Sorrells说，当他告诉朋友他看到一个扁平，金属质的物体在他在都柏林家后面约30英尺处的一个牧场盘旋时，他的朋友都取笑他。但在看过《斯蒂芬维尔帝国-论坛报》上类似的报道后，他决定站出来。
Sorrells说：“你在这儿听说过大鲈鱼或大雄鹿，但这又是一个不同东西。很高兴能听到其他人说见过这个东西，因为这就说明我没疯。”
Sorrells说他多次看到该物体。他表示他从来复枪的伸缩镜中看到它，并将其描述成一种非常大，没有接缝、螺帽和螺钉的东西。
沃思堡美国联合储备基地海军航空站第301战斗机联队的发言人Maj. Karl Lewis说，在多数人声称看到该物的1月8日，他并没有派任何自己基地的F-16或其他飞机到该区域。
Lewis认为这个物体可能是由于两架商用飞机造成的错觉。来自飞机的光看上去亮的不同寻常，并呈现橙色，可能都是因为太阳的位置。
Lewis说：“我90%确定这是一家飞机。由于太阳的角度，它可以欺骗到你。”
该地区的两个官方空军基地--在Abilene的Dyess空军基地和在Wichita Falls的Sheppard空军基地--都宣称在上周没有飞机飞到那个区域。空军不再继续调查UFO。
一名男子声称悬赏获得一张有关这一神秘飞行物的照片或录像带。
根据美国最大民间飞碟研究机构MUFON宣称，每个月在美国就会报告200起看到UFO的事件，大多在加利福尼亚、科罗拉多和德克萨斯州。他们计划去有1.7万人的斯蒂芬威尔小镇进行调查。
去年，在美联社和Ipsos共同进行的一项调查中，有14%的美国人表示他们看到过UFO。
Erath县巡警Lee Roy Gaitan说他一开始看到红色亮光，之后出现白色闪光，移动的飞快，但是即便用望远镜都不能看清楚物体的光源在哪里。
Gaitan说：“我没有看到过飞碟，我不知道它是什么，但是它并不是飞机，我从未见过它这样的东西。我想它可能是某种军用飞机--至少我希望如此。” |
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发表于 2016-7-10 09:19:44